Search engines aren't interested in a site's top level domain, unless it happens to be a national TLD, like .lu for Luxembourg, and that only helps if you happen to be marketing the site to an audience in Luxembourg.

Search engines aren't interested in a site's top level domain, unless it happens to be a national TLD, like .lu for Luxembourg, and that only helps if you happen to be marketing the site to an audience in Luxembourg.

Hi, well I was not talking about national TLDs or ccTLDs, but specifically about global TLD such as .com / .net / .org / .info / .biz

This is quite important for me as I'm undecided in which extension I need to register another 20 domains.

As I said, it only matters if it's a national TLD. Since it isn't, it doesn't matter.

That being said, people seem to find .com easier to remember. If you can get that, I'd say you should, but if you've got a domain name in mind that you believe will serve as a memorable brand for the business but .com isn't available for it, go with something else and don't worry about whether the search engines have a preference when it comes to that kind of thing.

I'm undecided in which extension I need to register another 20 domains

That suggests to me that a lot of emphasis is being put on the "Value" of the domain name for search engine performance.If they are all for the same project, registering several (maybe 2 or 3) is quite normal, but 20 ......

I frequently advise clients to get the set if they are available .com + .co.uk + (depending on Mkt sector) .net + .orgGenerally though, the pair .com and .co.uk is sufficient and keeps out predatory parkers.

That suggests to me that a lot of emphasis is being put on the "Value" of the domain name for search engine performance.If they are all for the same project, registering several (maybe 2 or 3) is quite normal, but 20 ......

I frequently advise clients to get the set if they are available .com + .co.uk + (depending on Mkt sector) .net + .orgGenerally though, the pair .com and .co.uk is sufficient and keeps out predatory parkers.

Hi, yes you nearly got what my strategy is but the .com are all gone.

So I'm trying to get a hand of the keywords related to my niche.

But from the previous comments, I'm getting the idea that an exact match domain is not better than any other domain, which contrast with my research and my friend's opinion, I'm quite confused now.

Well you get the point, the most successful selling site in the world has a river for it's domain name but doesn't sell a single river anywhere on the site. However, every single person in the world that ever sat in a classroom knows about the Amazon. One word and extremely memorable.

IMHO, the most important aspect of a domain name is that it is memorable and easy to type in with minimum mistakes.

Unfortunately, right now, the search engines are putting an inordinate amount of weight on exact match domains. Matt Cutts from Google has stated that they're working on that problem, but I haven't seen much change (although I haven't studied it scientifically).

So at the moment, an exact match domain will likely provide you with some benefit. It's likely not very long-term, however, and I would always recommend a brandable, non-keyword domain over a silly-sounding, .info domain that has keyword in it, for that reason.

Unfortunately, right now, the search engines are putting an inordinate amount of weight on exact match domains. Matt Cutts from Google has stated that they're working on that problem, but I haven't seen much change (although I haven't studied it scientifically).

So at the moment, an exact match domain will likely provide you with some benefit. It's likely not very long-term, however, and I would always recommend a brandable, non-keyword domain over a silly-sounding, .info domain that has keyword in it, for that reason.

Hi Jill,

many thanks for your reply, on a side note I found this forum after my friend pointed me to read your Brain freeze SEO articles which are helping to move the first steps in my SEO studies.

In regards to the exact match and Google, if they remove the benefits of exact match then I guess that the whole searching will become much more messy.

I have experienced with some ccTld that with exact match and just 1 link, I was up on the number 2 on Google for a low competition term.

So, I'm here trying to understand if for now, I can do the same if the .com /.net /.org are parked or undeveloped.

My logic would say yes. But I guess I only have to try it now since I can't find any example.

Lastly, it seems that the newly .co (ccTld for Colombia) is been treated as a Global TLD: